The Pacific Ocean It is one of the parts of the interconnected system of marine waters of the Earth that covers the largest maritime extension on the planet with 15,000 kilometers of territory. Its extension ranges from the Bering Sea to the frozen waters of southern Antarctica.
In addition, there are also traces of the Pacific Ocean surrounding the island country of Indonesia until reaching the coastal region of Colombia. Twenty-five thousand islands are located in its waters that unfold along the south of the terrestrial equator; therefore, the Pacific Ocean contains more islands than all the other oceans combined..
There are records that the first European to see this ocean was Vasco Núñez de Balboa (1475 - 1519), a Spanish explorer and nobleman. Balboa was able to get to know this ocean after crossing the Isthmus of Panama, which motivated him to take possession of this maritime territory on behalf of the Spanish monarchs in 1513. He named it "the sea of the south".
Later, the renowned Portuguese explorer Fernando de Magallanes (1480 - 1521) during his circumnavigation of the Earth financed by the Spanish Crown decided to rename these waters with the name of "Pacific", since during his trip he had no problems with the maritime currents, which remained appeased.
However, this ocean does not always remain calm as hurricanes, typhoons and even notable volcanic and seismic activity develop with some regularity. All these phenomena hit the islands located in these waters, as well as certain continental coastlines..
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According to some scientific theories, most of the water existing on Earth arose from the interior of it as a consequence of volcanic activity and the rotating force that involves the gravitation of the cosmos..
Arnold Urey, a renowned geologist, establishes that 10% of the water that is currently on the planet already existed at the origins of the Earth; however, it only stretched superficially around the globe.
Previously on Earth there was only water vapor, since the temperature of the planet was very high and for this reason the existence of liquid water was impossible. Over the years the atmosphere cooled and reached a temperature of up to 374 ° C.
Thanks to this, liquid water began to emerge but in small quantities, so the water vapor was still conserved..
After this event, the rains began. This brought as a consequence that the water began to accumulate in the basins and in the low lands; rivers also began to be produced, which descended from the mountains. This event allowed the first ocean waters to develop.
Since the origin of the Earth, the atmosphere and the seas have undergone constant modifications. Due to the rainfall, the characteristic chemical compounds that are found both in the waters and in the land began to be integrated..
As for seawater, its composition gradually solidified through the accumulation of minerals and salts. In the beginning, the concentration was less; however, it was growing thanks to the erosion of the Earth's crust. Consequently, the strong tides promoted the reduction of the coasts, which became sands or beaches.
The climate also had a notable influence since thanks to this the metallic minerals that we find in the aquatic territories were increasing. All these events contributed to the salinity of the oceans, which currently have thirty-five grams of salt in a single liter of water.
Currently, the origin of the Pacific Ocean remains one of the great unknowns in the field of geology. However, one of the most widely used theories states that its birth occurred due to the convergence of some plates, which allowed an intersection.
According to this argument, a lava solidified in this hole that established the most extensive oceanic foundations in the world..
However, there is no evidence that this phenomenon has developed in other regions, so it is difficult to prove this theory..
At the University of Utretch, located in the Netherlands, a group of students proposed that the birth of the Pacific Ocean may be due to the fact that, when a new plate emerges, it is produced by the meeting of two others in a fault.
In these cases the plate moves along its sides, producing an unstable situation from which an intersection or hole emerges..
Douwe Van Hinsbergen, who supervised this study, gave the example of the San Andrés fault: this process generates a rapprochement between the San Francisco Bay and Los Angeles, which each year get closer to 5 centimeters.
On the other hand, Dr. Lydian Boschman looked at studies done in 1980 and realized that scientists had believed that the three ocean ridges had formed the intersection; however, what actually happened is that this hole occurred in existing plates and not through a separate plate, as in the Pacific Ocean..
The most outstanding characteristics of the Pacific Ocean are the following:
The Pacific Ocean is a large body of salty water that ranges from the Antarctic region - specifically in the southern part - to the north of the Arctic. Likewise, its waters extend through western Australia and Asia: they reach the south and north of the American continent on the east side..
The waters of the Pacific feed the Bering Sea in Alaska and the Ross Sea, located in Antarctica. In the same way, this ocean is connected with the currents of the Atlantic Ocean thanks to the Bering Strait and the Strait of Magellan, passing through the Drake Passage.
In conclusion, the limits of the Pacific Ocean are to the west with Oceania and Asia and to the east with America.
The dimensions of the Pacific Ocean correspond to a surface area of 161.8 million square kilometers, with a depth ranging between 4,280 meters and 10,924 meters..
This last figure is due to the fact that the Challenger Abyss, belonging to the Mariana Trench, is located within the Pacific Ocean..
As for the coordinates, they indicate that the Pacific Ocean resides at 0 ° N to 160 ° W. For this reason it can be said that this ocean extends over the continents of Oceania, Asia and America.
In relation to its volume, it reaches 714,839,310 square kilometers, which allows it to store a rich biodiversity in its ecosystem. In addition, its waters are home to important tourist islands such as Tahiti, Bora Bora, Guadalcanal Island, Yap, Upolu and Rarotonga, among others..
As mentioned in previous paragraphs, the surface of the Pacific Ocean is 161.8 million square kilometers, which makes this ocean the most extensive of the four oceanic manifestations..
For example, the smaller brother of the Pacific Ocean is the Atlantic, which has about 106.5 million square kilometers; For its part, the Indian Ocean has about 70.56 million, while the Antarctic Ocean is the smallest of the four, since it only has an area of 20.33 million.
In the Pacific Ocean there is a series of geographical features that cover different terrestrial and aquatic phenomena, such as archipelagos and islands, capes, some straits, trenches, gulfs and bays. It can even be said that the Pacific Ocean has several active volcanoes..
As for its islands and archipelagos, one of the most important insular groups located in this ocean are the Mariana Islands, since they are a notable tourist attraction for travelers and explorers from all over the world..
This island group is made up of fifteen volcanic mountains and is located in a submerged mountain range that extends from Guam to Japan for 2,519 kilometers..
The name of these islands is due to the queen of Spain consort Mariana de Austria. She lived in the seventeenth century, at which time the Spanish colonization arrived in these distant lands..
The Pacific Ocean also has a set of uninhabited islands, such as Clipperton Island, also known as the Island of Passion. Its area is small, since it only has about 6 square kilometers and a coastline of 11 kilometers.
At present this island is the possession of France although it is located closer to Michoacán, state of Mexico.
Thanks to the annular shape of this coral atoll, the lagoon of this island is closed because its waters are acidic and stagnant..
Although the island was inhabited in the past by settlers, military personnel and fishermen, it has had no permanent inhabitants since 1945.
This is a narrow sea that separates Vancouver Island from the mainland. Its banks and waters belong to Canada; however, the southern part is from the United States.
In this strait the islands of the Gulf are located together with the city of Vancouver, which houses the main port of this place.
It consists of a strait that interconnects the South China Sea with the Sulú Sea. In the north is the Philippine island Balábac, which is part of the province of Palawan, together with the Malaysian island of Banggi which is located in the south.
It is also known by the name of Coaxial and consists of a volcano and seamount that is located on the Juan de Fuca ridge, near the west of Cannon Beach in the United States. The Axial is the youngest volcano within the Cobb-Eickelberg submarine mountain chain.
This volcano is complex in terms of its geological constitution; Furthermore, its exact origin is unknown.
These volcanoes are part of a volcanic doublet located in the Samoa Islands, specifically in American Samoa. Geographically, Ofu and Olosega are volcanic islands that are separated by the Asaga Strait, which is considered a natural bridge made up of a coral reef..
In 1970 tourists had to splash between volcanic doublets when the tide was low; currently there is a bridge that connects the towns of the island of Olosega with those of Ofu.
As mentioned above, this ocean is the oldest and most extensive ocean basin of all. Taking into account the structure of its rocks, it can be established that they date back about 200 million years.
The most important structural features of both the continental slope and the basin have been configured thanks to the phenomena that occur in tectonic plates..
Its coastal shelf is quite narrow in the regions of South America and North America; however, it is quite wide in Australia and Asia.
Among other aspects, the ridge of the eastern Pacific regions consists of a Mesoceanic mountain range that is about 8,700 kilometers long, spanning from the Gulf of California to the southern west of South America. Its average height is about 2,130 meters above the seabed.
Regarding its temperature, it can be established that in the expanses of the Pacific there are five different climatic regions: the tropics, mid-latitudes, typhoons, the monsoon region and the equator, also known as the zone of calm..
Trade winds develop in the middle latitudes, generally located south and north of the equator..
In the areas closest to the equator -where most of the islands are located-, the usual trade winds have a fairly constant temperature throughout the year: between 27 and 21 ºC.
On the other hand, the monsoon region is located in the western Pacific, specifically between Australia and Japan. In this climatic region the winds have marked a remarkable rainy and cloudy season.
As for typhoons, they usually cause damage to the southwest Pacific, as they consist of strong tropical cyclones. The most notorious frequency of typhoons in the Pacific Ocean is located south of Japan and reaches eastern Micronesia.
It is generally believed that the waters of the Pacific harbor a homogeneous and calm nature. However, the pelagic zone of this ocean - that is, the open ocean zone - is actually as varied as any other terrestrial ecosystem..
In these maritime currents the marine algae stand out, located in most cases in the surface waters. This vegetation is the main food resource for ocean animals, such as sharks, baleen whales, tuna and other fish..
Algae are organisms that have the ability to carry out oxygenic photosynthesis -that is, through the HtwoO-, obtaining organic carbon through the energy of sunlight, which differentiates them from a terrestrial plant or embryophyte.
In addition, seaweeds can be multicellular or unicellular and are usually green, brown or red in color..
These plants are a division of the green algae that include up to 8,200 species. Likewise, this category of specimens is characterized by containing chlorophylls a and b, and they store substances such as starch and carotene..
The reproduction of these plants is usually sexual; however, in some cases they are able to reproduce asexually through spore formation or cell division.
These algae are characterized by their reddish tones that are produced thanks to the pigments phycocyanin and phycoerythrin, which mask chlorophyll a and carotene. Like the other algae, its main reserve substance is starch together with a polysaccharide known as floridoside.
In this classification it is rare to find unicellular forms, which is why they are abundant in their multicellular forms. Of the red algae you can find up to 8000 species that are located mainly in the intertidal zone. However, sometimes they exceed 200 meters in depth.
Due to its overwhelming size, the Pacific Ocean is home to thousands of species, especially fish. In addition, this ocean also provides a wide variety of cathenophores and some very strange animals that are located in the deepest waters, such as vampire squid..
Plankton is a group of pelagic and microscopic organisms that float in salty and fresh waters; however, they tend to be more abundant from a depth of two hundred meters.
Most species of plankton are transparent, although they tend to have iridescence and show certain colors when viewed under the microscope; these colors are usually red or blue. In turn, some planktons have luminescence.
In terms of size, plankton usually measure less than a millimeter. However, larger specimens such as acalepha jellyfish, ctenophores, and siphonophores have been found..
It consists of a species of cephalopod mollusk that is located in deep waters, especially those that are tropical and temperate. Its size is around 30 centimeters in length and its color can be pale reddish or intense black, depending on the lighting conditions..
Despite its name, the vampire squid poses no threat to humans. Previously they were confused with octopuses as a result of a mistake made by the theutologist Carl Chun.
One of its main characteristics is that this squid has a layer of skin that connects its eight arms, which in turn are lined with cirrus clouds..
Only half of its arms contain some suction cups. Their eyes are globular and limpid, and they have the function of illuminating the marine darkness..
This dolphin is a species of odontocete cetacean belonging to the Delphinidae family. It is a very active species that inhabits the cold or temperate waters of the northern Pacific Ocean..
The Pacific dolphin is very striking for the beauty of its colors, since it has three different shades: the throat, chin and belly are cream, while its beak and rear fins are dark gray. Instead, we can find a light gray under his eyes and on his spine.
The countries located around the coasts of the Pacific Ocean are located in the Pacific basin; This categorization includes not only the coastal regions, but also the insular areas found in this maritime territory..
Below is a list of the main countries emerging from these ocean waters:
- Russia.
- Japan.
- China.
- North Korea.
- South Korea.
- Macau.
- Taiwan.
- Hong Kong.
- Philippines.
- Cambodia.
- Vietnam.
- Thailand.
- Singapore.
- Malaysia.
- Indonesia.
- Australia.
- Palau.
- Micronesia.
- Papua New Guinea.
- New Zealand.
- Fiji.
- Tonga.
- Samoa.
- Cook islands.
- Solomon Islands.
- Norfolk island.
- New Caledonia.
- Tokelau.
- Kingdom of New Zealand.
- French polynesia.
- Pitcairn islands.
- Wallis and Futuna.
- Northern Mariana Islands.
- Guam.
- American Samoa.
- Mexico.
- USA.
- Canada.
- Ecuador.
- Colombia.
- Peru.
- chili.
- The Savior.
- Honduras.
- Guatemala.
- Nicaragua.
- Costa Rica.
- Panama.
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